Analyzing Imagery of Wrath and Redemption: Collaborative Explication of "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God"

Objective: SWBAT analyze how the mood of "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" develops over the course of the text, how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific images from the piece by collaboratively composing an poster advertising the sermon.

Big Idea:
A bent bow evokes a threat of physical harm; damned floodwaters, an impending disaster; a spider held above a fire, a feeling of powerlessness: images creating the mood of fear in "Sinners in the Hands of Angry God"

Students continue to work collaboratively, in student-selected groups. As they complete the poster element of the project, students discuss their choices for most vivid images. As students discuss, they take notes on their group's reaction to the images, clarifying, verifying, and challenging ideas and conclusions from their peers (SL.9-10.1c), building on each others' ideas, qualifying or justifying their own views and understanding of the piece's imagery and making new connections in light of the evidence and reasoning presented by their peers (SL.9-10.1d).

As a creative project, this task provides students the option to work to their strengths, teaming with those who are stronger artists, more thorough researchers, or clearer writers than they are. Working collaboratively allows the students to exchange ideas, and since they chose their own groups, hold this exchange of ideas in an environment where they are comfortable.

Additionally, crafting the poster as an advertisement addresses application and synthesis, rather than simply recall of facts. Students need to consider imagery that will catch the viewer's attention; the context of the sermon, in turn requiring them to seek out information related to how the ideas of the sermon develop over the text ; as well as start thinking about persuasive techniques, which will be the focus of the next unit.

Student notes are for their own use, and will be referred to during the class review discussion for the unit test.

With two minutes remaining, students are asked to clean up their supplies and return to their seats. They're reminded of their homework: to complete a list of 5-10 virtues they feel are important to have in life, and explain why each one is important. Through this list of virtues, students can begin looking ahead to The Enlightenment and considering the similarities and differences in the content and expression of the authors. Additionally, students can begin to see how Franklin's autobiography is effectively a "lab report," as he presents a hypothesis, tests it, and comes to a conclusion, and the students will be analyzing how this process develops over the course of the text